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Oatmeal applesauce cake

Thursday, May 24, 2012

OATMEAL APPLESAUCE CAKE ~ LOW-FAT AND MOIST

Here's a quick,
low-fat and relatively healthy way to have your cake and eat it too.

I adapted the
recipe from a magazine called Diabetic Living, so of
course, there's less sugar in it. Most of the natural sweetness comes
in the form of unsweetened applesauce, which is a cinch to make at
home.

The cake also
has a lot of good stuff – whole wheat flour, rolled oats and dried
fruit, and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

The original
recipe was made with a bigger quantity of ingredients for more
servings, but I cut it down to about two-thirds. It was made with egg
replacer (the equivalent of one whole egg), but I used a yolk for the
batter. Using the egg white in the batter would have reduced the fat,
but I find it tends to make a drier cake as well. And we don't want
that, do we?

Since I didn't
want to waste the white, I made a meringue-like topping. This adds
more crunch but the egg white can be omitted. Just sprinkle the
rolled oats and brown sugar on and press into the batter lightly.

In a
medium bowl, stir together the two flours, rolled oats, baking
powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

In a
mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and butter and beat until
mixed.Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and
applesauce, beating after each addition, just until combined. Stir in
fruit bits. Spread batter into the prepared pan.

For
the topping, whisk the egg white until stiff but not dry. Combine the
rolled oats and brown sugar and fold into the egg white. Spread
mixture onto batter.

Bake
for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes
out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack before cutting into bars to serve.

Note:
To make applesauce, peel and chop up 2 cooking apples. Place in a
saucepan with 2 tbsp water, cover and cook over high heat until the
liquid comes to the boil. Turn down the heat to medium low, cover and
simmer, stirring occasionally, until apple is soft and can be mashed
easily. Uncover and continue cooking until liquid has evaporated.
Cool and store chilled in an air-tight container.